New Delhi:
On Tuesday morning, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor tweeted "I've had enough." The Minister of State for External Affairs better brace himself. The controversy over his link to the Kochi IPL team has turned into a whirlwind, and his party has indicated that any extrication will not be a team effort. (Read and watch: I have had enough, Tharoor tweets about IPL controversy)
Like other controversies that have centered on Tharoor, this one is playing out extensively on twitter. In the past, Tharoor's tweets have been described as flip and insensitive (referring to flying economy as travelling cattle-class) or indiscreet (questioning the new visa policies initiated by his ministry for foreigners.) They forced him, and in the case of his cattle-class comments, the Prime Minister, to explain that Tharoor didn't mean any harm. (Your comments)
But this time around, the allegations are serious. Did Tharoor use a close friend, Sunanda Pushkar, as a front to collect Rs 70 crores for helping to get Kochi its own IPL team? (Read: Who is Sunanda Pushkar?)
Yes, alleges, the BJP, which, on Tuesday, demanded that the Prime Minister sack Tharoor, who it quipped, has turned the IPL into CPL (Corruption Premier League). BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said that his party is not interested either in Tharoor's personal life or in the IPL, but that Tharoor's position as minister and Pushkar's link to him puts this matter in the public domain. He also called Tharoor the enfant terrible of the Congress and said in reference to his controversies that Tharoor had migrated from "twitter to corruption."
After initially describing the BJP's request as "absurd", the Congress distanced itself from the scandal, stating that the controversy was a personal affair and that Tharoor should explain his position.
The lid was blown off the box by IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi on Monday, who tweeted that Sunanda Pushkar, a close friend of the minister, had been gifted stake worth Rs 70 crores in the Kochi team, bought last month for Rs 1,530 crores. Modi then tweeted the details of the different partners who won the bid for the Kochi team. His most damning tweet may have been that Tharoor called him asking him not to investigate the different stakeholders in the Kochi franchise.
On Tuesday morning, Tharoor tweeted 'I've had enough' along with a link to his official press release in which he reasserts that he was a mentor and advisor to Rendezvous Sports World, which led the consortium that bought the Kochi team. (Read Tharoor's press release)
"Rendezvous includes a number of people, including many I have never met, and Sunanda Pushkar, whom I know well," he states. Adding that Modi guided the winning bid and presented himself as "a trusted friend," Tharoor says, "various attempts were made by Mr Modi and others to pressure the consortium members to abandon their bid in favour of another city in a different state. His extraordinary breach of all propriety in publicly raising issues relating to the composition of the consortium and myself personally is clearly an attempt to discredit the team and create reasons to disqualify it so that the franchise can be awarded elsewhere."
Tharoor's allegation is that Modi was upset that that the Kochi bid defeated that of the Adani Group from Ahmedabad which had been considered the front-runner. Tharoor also says that he called Modi not to ask him to back off from investigating the owners of the team, but to request him to stop delaying the formal notification of ownership.
As Tharoor emphasized that he had not and does "not intend to financially benefit" from the Kochi franchise, the BJP said his "patronage and protection" of the team is inappropriate, and that this seems to be a "copybook case of corruption."
The Kochi team-owners shot off an angry email to the Board of Cricket Control for India (BCCI), accusing Modi of breaching confidentiality agreements. Vivek Venugopal, a co-owner of the Kochi team told NDTV, "We have ... asked for Mr Lalit Modi to reveal the shareholding structures of all the other IPL teams owned by consortiums like Kings XI, Kolkata Knightriders and Rajasthan Royals. Why are the various owners of these teams and their stakes not being revealed?" (Read: Lalit Modi-Tharoor - Kochi strikes back)
Rendezvous says it will meet with its partners on Wednesday to decide whether to take legal action against Modi.
The group also offers a staunch defense of its decision to give away equity worth Rs 70 crores to Pushkar. As a Sales and Marketing Expert who knows the Kerala and Middle East market well, the group tells NDTV, she deserves to be rewarded for the expertise she offers to the consortium. As far as her close association with Tharoor goes, sources say "several other teams have owners close to politicians. Does that mean that it's the politicians who have invested?"
The BJP refutes the cited invaluable experience of Pushkar, arguing that she has no earlier connection to either cricket or Kerala.
While Tharoor deals with the political controversy, Modi has his own fire-fighting to do. Shashank Manohar, the President of the BCCI, has written to him, rebuking him over his public disclosure. "The issue, if any, could have been discussed at the governing council meeting and that action on your part of raising it on twitter is unbecoming of you as a chairman of the a sub-committee of the board. Your action is in serious breach of the confidentiality clause in the agreement....The BCCI is a body which functions in accordance with its constitution and doesn't function through media."
In his reply to Manohar, Modi said, "It is the Kochi franchisee who has a lot to hide and as such have lied about who is the actual owners of the shares. Which I informed you earlier today....I have minutes of what they said at the meeting. And in fact, when I questioned who the shareholders are - they had no answer. In fact, they said they would revert back. Within minutes of me asking the same - I got a call from Shashi Tharoor asking me not to ask about who these share-holders are."
Sources in the BCCI say it will fall upon Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar, who doubles up as President of the Mumbai Cricket Association, to broker peace between Modi and other cricket officials.
Like other controversies that have centered on Tharoor, this one is playing out extensively on twitter. In the past, Tharoor's tweets have been described as flip and insensitive (referring to flying economy as travelling cattle-class) or indiscreet (questioning the new visa policies initiated by his ministry for foreigners.) They forced him, and in the case of his cattle-class comments, the Prime Minister, to explain that Tharoor didn't mean any harm. (Your comments)
But this time around, the allegations are serious. Did Tharoor use a close friend, Sunanda Pushkar, as a front to collect Rs 70 crores for helping to get Kochi its own IPL team? (Read: Who is Sunanda Pushkar?)
Yes, alleges, the BJP, which, on Tuesday, demanded that the Prime Minister sack Tharoor, who it quipped, has turned the IPL into CPL (Corruption Premier League). BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said that his party is not interested either in Tharoor's personal life or in the IPL, but that Tharoor's position as minister and Pushkar's link to him puts this matter in the public domain. He also called Tharoor the enfant terrible of the Congress and said in reference to his controversies that Tharoor had migrated from "twitter to corruption."
After initially describing the BJP's request as "absurd", the Congress distanced itself from the scandal, stating that the controversy was a personal affair and that Tharoor should explain his position.
The lid was blown off the box by IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi on Monday, who tweeted that Sunanda Pushkar, a close friend of the minister, had been gifted stake worth Rs 70 crores in the Kochi team, bought last month for Rs 1,530 crores. Modi then tweeted the details of the different partners who won the bid for the Kochi team. His most damning tweet may have been that Tharoor called him asking him not to investigate the different stakeholders in the Kochi franchise.
On Tuesday morning, Tharoor tweeted 'I've had enough' along with a link to his official press release in which he reasserts that he was a mentor and advisor to Rendezvous Sports World, which led the consortium that bought the Kochi team. (Read Tharoor's press release)
"Rendezvous includes a number of people, including many I have never met, and Sunanda Pushkar, whom I know well," he states. Adding that Modi guided the winning bid and presented himself as "a trusted friend," Tharoor says, "various attempts were made by Mr Modi and others to pressure the consortium members to abandon their bid in favour of another city in a different state. His extraordinary breach of all propriety in publicly raising issues relating to the composition of the consortium and myself personally is clearly an attempt to discredit the team and create reasons to disqualify it so that the franchise can be awarded elsewhere."
Tharoor's allegation is that Modi was upset that that the Kochi bid defeated that of the Adani Group from Ahmedabad which had been considered the front-runner. Tharoor also says that he called Modi not to ask him to back off from investigating the owners of the team, but to request him to stop delaying the formal notification of ownership.
As Tharoor emphasized that he had not and does "not intend to financially benefit" from the Kochi franchise, the BJP said his "patronage and protection" of the team is inappropriate, and that this seems to be a "copybook case of corruption."
The Kochi team-owners shot off an angry email to the Board of Cricket Control for India (BCCI), accusing Modi of breaching confidentiality agreements. Vivek Venugopal, a co-owner of the Kochi team told NDTV, "We have ... asked for Mr Lalit Modi to reveal the shareholding structures of all the other IPL teams owned by consortiums like Kings XI, Kolkata Knightriders and Rajasthan Royals. Why are the various owners of these teams and their stakes not being revealed?" (Read: Lalit Modi-Tharoor - Kochi strikes back)
Rendezvous says it will meet with its partners on Wednesday to decide whether to take legal action against Modi.
The group also offers a staunch defense of its decision to give away equity worth Rs 70 crores to Pushkar. As a Sales and Marketing Expert who knows the Kerala and Middle East market well, the group tells NDTV, she deserves to be rewarded for the expertise she offers to the consortium. As far as her close association with Tharoor goes, sources say "several other teams have owners close to politicians. Does that mean that it's the politicians who have invested?"
The BJP refutes the cited invaluable experience of Pushkar, arguing that she has no earlier connection to either cricket or Kerala.
While Tharoor deals with the political controversy, Modi has his own fire-fighting to do. Shashank Manohar, the President of the BCCI, has written to him, rebuking him over his public disclosure. "The issue, if any, could have been discussed at the governing council meeting and that action on your part of raising it on twitter is unbecoming of you as a chairman of the a sub-committee of the board. Your action is in serious breach of the confidentiality clause in the agreement....The BCCI is a body which functions in accordance with its constitution and doesn't function through media."
In his reply to Manohar, Modi said, "It is the Kochi franchisee who has a lot to hide and as such have lied about who is the actual owners of the shares. Which I informed you earlier today....I have minutes of what they said at the meeting. And in fact, when I questioned who the shareholders are - they had no answer. In fact, they said they would revert back. Within minutes of me asking the same - I got a call from Shashi Tharoor asking me not to ask about who these share-holders are."
Sources in the BCCI say it will fall upon Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar, who doubles up as President of the Mumbai Cricket Association, to broker peace between Modi and other cricket officials.
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